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We're in the middle of counting down the top 10 players in the history of the Big 12. I'm sure you'll all agree with my selections.

See more on my criteria here.

Let's move on with the list:

No. 3: Ndamukong Suh, DT, Nebraska (2005-09)

Why he's on the list: Suh's career had modest beginnings, and coach Bo Pelini famously almost told the Oregon native to take a hike when he took over the Huskers job before the 2008 season. Instead, Suh bought in and became the Big 12's most decorated and best defender ever in two years as a starter. We're not taking his NFL career into account, but colleague Mel Kiper called Suh the most dominating defensive tackle in college football he'd seen in 32 years. Suh's greatest achievement was becoming a Heisman finalist as a defensive tackle in 2009, and I've always believed he should have won the award ahead of Alabama's Mark Ingram, who was arguably the second-best running back on that Alabama team that won the national title. Suh was simply the most dominant player in college football that season, impacting every game he played and just about every snap.

Do you know how hard it is to lead a team in tackles as a defensive tackle? Suh did it twice. He had 43 tackles for loss and 19.5 sacks in two seasons as a starter. In 2009, he collected an absurd amount of hardware: He was the Big 12's Defensive Player of the Year and he won the Lombardi Award, the Nagurski Trophy and the Bednarik Award. He was also a unanimous All-American and a finalist for the Camp Award as college football's best player. Nebraska's defense in 2009 was one of the best in Big 12 history, and the team fell just short of the Big 12 title. That's not Suh's fault. His performance against a big-time Texas offense in the title game was one of the best I've ever seen. Against the Longhorns, led by senior quarterback Colt McCoy (No. 5 on our list of top Big 12 players), he made 12 tackles and 4.5 sacks, racking up a school record seven tackles for loss. He was everywhere, and it seemed like he was in McCoy's face on every snap.

All season long, Suh was unblockable. Only two players are blocking him from being the greatest Big 12 player of all-time.

The rest of the list:

• No. 4: Sam Bradford, QB, Oklahoma
• No. 5: Colt McCoy, QB, Texas
• No. 6: Adrian Peterson, RB, Oklahoma
• No. 7: Robert Griffin III, QB, Baylor
• No. 8: Jason White, QB, Oklahoma
• No. 9: Roy Williams, S, Oklahoma
• No. 10: Tavon Austin, WR/KR/RB/PR, West Virginia

Colleague Mel Kiper Jr. named his All-NFL Rookie team this week, and if you've followed this blog very long, you'll recognize a few of the names on the team.

You'll need Insider to see it all, but it was a solid year for the Big 12 rookies at the next level. Headliner Robert Griffin III was edged out by Andrew Luck for the QB spot, but the Big 12 grabbed two of the three wide receiver spots.

Oklahoma State's Justin Blackmon had one of them, and if you want to count him for Baylor, Josh Gordon grabbed another after a great rookie season with the Cleveland Browns, featuring 50 grabs for 805 yards. Blackmon tied for the rookie lead with 64 catches and led the class with 865 receiving yards, despite playing for the passing-deficient Jacksonville Jaguars. Impressive stuff.

Iowa State's Kelechi Osemele started all 16 games this year for the Ravens and earned a spot on the All-Rookie offensive line at right guard, the last spot for the Big 12.

It's no surprise that the league's only honorees were on offense, and two came at receiver, which has been the league's strongest position other than quarterback for the past few years. Nebraska's Lavonte David spent some time in the Big 12, and the Husker alum turned Buccaneer also cracked the team after making a big impact as a juco transfer back in 2011.

This has been in the works for a while, but it's finally official: Nebraska and Oklahoma will play a home-and-home series in the distant future.

The longtime Big Eight/Big 12 rivals will meet Sept. 18, 2021 in Norman, Okla., and Sept. 17, 2022, in Lincoln, Neb. The Huskers and Sooners last played in the 2010 Big 12 championship game, which marked Nebraska's final contest in the conference before its move to the Big Ten.

The 2021 game will recognize the 50th anniversary of the "Game of the Century" between Nebraska and Oklahoma in 1971, when the top-ranked Huskers beat the second-ranked Sooners 35-31 en route to a national title.

"Our rivalry with Oklahoma has been one of the great traditional matchups in the history of college football," Nebraska athletic director Tom Osborne said in a prepared statement. "The games between the two schools were generally to decide a conference championship, and many times helped determine the national champion. Those matchups were always played with great intensity on the field, but with a great deal of respect from both sides and among the fan bases. I know our fans look forward to non-conference games against high-profile opponents like Oklahoma. I'm pleased we were able to finalize this series."

It's great to see the series finalized, and I'm sure Nebraska fans will be thrilled. How good is this rivalry? Both teams were ranked in the top 11 of the AP poll in 17 of the 19 games played between 1971-1988. Insane.

The concern is how continued conference realignment impacts future non-conference scheduling.

If leagues like the Big Ten go back to schedules with nine conference games, teams will be less inclined/able to schedule marquee non-league series like this one.

While Nebraska and Oklahoma likely will make the series a priority, there's no telling what the scheduling landscape will look like nearly a decade from now.

Nebraska has no other non-league games scheduled for 2021 and 2022, but expects to announce more schedule updates in the coming weeks.

The season is almost here, and today should be one of the most fun chats of the year. Be sure to make your presence known.

We'll get started at 3 p.m. ET sharp.

Here's the link.

Drop your questions in early, keep them coming once we start and I'll see you there.

One more time, for good measure: Here's where you can find our chat.

Texas will start the season at No. 15 in both major polls, but Mack Brown's not shying away from expectations this season. He says his team could finish in the top five.

"I think if you didn't think that, Lord, you shouldn't be at Texas," Brown told reporters. "I think two years ago was not the norm for us. Last year we had a lot of growing to do to try to get back in the mix. We had our chances, didn't work out like we wanted it to, and this year I think we've got a chance to be in the mix."

Brown's not far off. The defense should be dominant and will keep the Longhorns in games at times. The big question: Will the offense have a quarterback capable of making big throws when he need to, and will the running game be as good on the field as it should be on paper.

"If we play really good we've got a chance to win every week. If we play average we've got a chance to lose," Brown said. "So the coaches and the players have to do a tremendous job of being prepared to play each week and play at a high level."

That quote reminds me a little bit of Nebraska's Bo Pelini. After routing Washington in the Holiday Bowl, he took to the podium and shouted to delirious Husker fans that Nebraska was back, and here to stay.

Asked to expound on the comments later, he explained that by "back" he meant the Huskers would have a great chance to win every single game they played, and it was up to him to make it happen. He was right, though the Big Ten transition last year made it a bumpier ride than maybe he expected at the time.

Still, being in every game and winning every game is a far different task. Pelini has still lost four games in every season at Nebraska. That's not acceptable at Texas.

Yes, a top five finish is possible this year for Texas. So is a finish outside the top 25, thanks to a crazy-deep Big 12. It's up to Brown to navigate his team to the top of this league. The ability is there, but Texas won't be favored in every game. It'll be within reach, but only the fall will tell if the Longhorns reach out and grab those wins.

Have you missed our weekly chats? Today is your lucky day, my friends. The season is nearing, and the Big 12 blog weekly chat is back.

We'll start it back up at 3 p.m. ET today.

Here's the link.

As always, you can leave your questions there before we start, and I'll get to them once I arrive at 3 p.m. ET on the dot. Keep them coming once we start, and I'll see you there.

Can't wait.

Want to prove that your fan base is the biggest?

Do it online by pledging your colors at this promotion ahead of "College Colors Day" on Aug. 31. Until then, you can place a vote for your school and register to win a shopping spree for products from your college.

Pretty cool promotion. Check it out.

This is an online poll, so is it going to just come down to the usual suspects, Big 12 expats Nebraska and Texas A&M, the resident kings of online polls?

We'll see soon enough. You can check out the rankings of all participating schools, too.

The NCAA released the Academic Progress Rate numbers for the 2010-11 school year this week, and the Big 12 did well, even though one school is flirting with some trouble in the future.

APR is a complex formula that's difficult to explain, but here's the explanation from the NCAA's website.

A Division I Football Bowl Subdivision team awards the full complement of 85 grants-in-aid. If 80 student-athletes remain in school and academically eligible, three remain in school but are academically ineligible and two drop out academically ineligible, the team earns 163 of 170 possible points for that term. Divide 163 by 170 and multiply by 1,000 to determine that the team’s Academic Progress Rate for that term is 959.

Yes, that's as unnecessarily complex as it sounds. Oh well. Anyway, it's a rolling four-year figure that's released each year, and teams that score below 925 and have a player who failed academically and left school can lose scholarships. Teams whose APR score drops below 900 face additional sanctions.

Here's how the Big 12's football teams did for the 2010-11 school year, courtesy of the NCAA website (includes Big 12 expats, because they were in the league at the time).

1. Missouri: 972

2. Kansas: 971

3. Oklahoma: 970

4. Nebraska: 966

5. Baylor: 956

T-6. Texas A&M: 946

T-6. Texas Tech: 946

8. Kansas State: 943

T-9. Colorado: 938

T-9. Iowa State: 938

11. Texas: 937

12. Oklahoma State: 928

Careful, Cowboys. Either way, everybody's safe this year.

If you're curious, West Virginia checked in with a score of 953, which would have ranked sixth in the Big 12. TCU, though, had a score of 973, which topped every Big 12 school. Very nice, Frogs.

You can see more data here.

Earlier this week, we examined how the Big 12 teams had done against Top 25 competition, as well as tallying wins against top-10 teams.

That stemmed from an email questioning West Virginia's on-field credentials, and the latest post brought an onslaught of new emails.

How did the old Big 12 teams do? Well, I'm glad you asked. TCU shockingly had the best record of any Big 12 team against Top 25 competition, but how did the Big 12 expats do? We'll include Nebraska and Colorado's 2011 seasons.

Nebraska: 7-10 (.412)

• Wins vs. top 10 (1): vs. No. 6 Missouri (2010)

Nebraska went 3-2 against the Top 25 in 2009, capped by a 33-0 beatdown of No. 20 Arizona in the Holiday Bowl. That's the only season of the four the Huskers were above .500 against the top 25. NU also beat No. 6 Missouri and No. 14 Oklahoma State in consecutive weeks in 2010.

Missouri: 6-10 (.375)

• Wins vs. top 10 (1): vs. No. 1 Oklahoma (2010)

The Tigers memorably knocked off OU for the first time under Gary Pinkel to reach 7-0 in 2010, but the next best wins since 2008 were a win over No. 20 Illinois in 2008 and a win over No. 16 Texas in 2011.

Texas A&M: 3-14 (.176)

• Wins vs. top 10 (2): vs. No. 8 Oklahoma (2010), vs. No. 8 Nebraska (2010)

The Aggies went a brutal 1-5 in 2011, with its only top 25 win coming at home against Baylor. It also went a combined 0-6 in the 2008 and 2009 seasons, but staked two huge wins in the latter half of the 2010 season, when the Aggies rallied from a 3-3 start to win a share of the Big 12 South and reach the Cotton Bowl.

Colorado: 2-12 (.143)

• Wins vs. top 10: None

Colorado's last win was a 34-30 upset of No. 17 Kansas in 2009, but that was the first of a season-ending, seven-game losing streak for the Jayhawks, who finished 5-7. Colorado also knocked off West Virginia in 2008 on a Thursday nighter in September.

So, what did the Big 12 lose in recent results against the Top 25? It's pretty easy to say the league got an upgrade. West Virginia, remember, went 4-4 with one top-10 win.

TCU was the best of any team in the league, going 8-3 against the Top 25 since 2008, including five wins vs. top-10 teams over that span -- the most in the Big 12.

Hope you all enjoyed our package on a college football playoff's effect on each conference this week. Here's what I had to say on the way the Big 12 would be affected.

That's not all we had to say.

Colleague Mark Schlabach broke down where the talks currently stand, and what could come about at next week's meetings.

Many of the details regarding a playoff are still unsettled. The commissioners must decide: (1) How the four teams will be selected (whether it's the top four teams, regardless of whether they won their conference championships, or three conference champions and a wild card); (2) Whether revised BCS standings will be used to select the four teams or a human committee similar to the one used to determine the seeding and at-large bids for the NCAA men's basketball tournament; and (3) Whether the national semifinal games will be played within the existing BCS bowl structure or outside of them. (There seems to be a consensus that the BCS National Championship Game will be offered to the highest bidding city.)

Want some historical perspective? Colleague Ivan Maisel is your man, who walks you through the steps that have led to this most recent talk of a move to a playoff.

On the weekend that the 1967 season began, [former Michigan State coach Duffy] Daugherty wrote a column for Family Weekly, a Sunday newspaper supplement, entitled "Let's Have a College Football Playoff!" He wanted an eight-team playoff with the opening round at campus sites.

"Nobody who loves football wants to jeopardize such an important tradition as year-end bowl games," Daugherty wrote. "But bowl games don't determine the nation's best teams and were never intended to do that."

Daugherty received the support of the American Football Coaches Association, which asked the NCAA to study the topic. The NCAA created a special committee in 1968 for that purpose but shut it down the following year before it could report its findings.

Good stuff from our crack columnists. Check it out.

Last week, we put Barry Sanders at the top of our list of the greatest individual seasons ever, but what about in the Big 12 era?

Sanders' dominance came all the way back in 1988, eight years before the Big 12 began competition.

What did fans think was the greatest Big 12 season ever? It wasn't even close.

Vince Young's 2005 campaign blew away the competition, taking home 45 percent of the vote, three times its closest competition.

Young was the first player in college football history to throw for 3,000 yards and run for 1,000 yards, and was the only player on our list to lead a Big 12 team to the national title.

Adrian Peterson's 2004 season grabbed 15 percent of the vote, tying Ricky Williams' 1998 season, which checked in at No. 3 on our list of the greatest college football seasons of the past 50 years.

Sam Bradford's record-breaking 2008 season was fourth with 13 percent of the vote after quarterbacking Oklahoma to the most points of any offense in the history of college football, as well as a national title game appearance.

Nebraska's Ndamukong Suh grabbed only 12 percent of the vote to come in fifth place among the five candidates after a season as the Huskers' resident wrecking ball, collecting the Lombardi Award, Bednarik Award, Outland Trophy, AP Player of the Year and earning an invitation to the Heisman ceremony.

Did the fans get this one right?

It's been over two years since Nebraska announced its intentions to leave the Big 12 for the Big Ten, and nearly a year since it became official.

After a full school year in the Huskers' new league, athletic director Tom Osborne sat down with the Lincoln Journal-Star to look back on Year 1 in the Big Ten, and of course, the Big 12 came up.

LJS: Now that you’ve been in both Big 12 and Big Ten meeting rooms, how would you compare how each conference goes about making decisions?

TO: "I think in the Big Ten there’s more collegiality. There’s probably a little bit greater concern for the overall welfare of the conference, whereas in the Big 12 there’s probably a little bit more emphasis on self-interest. And part of that stems from the way revenues are divided. In the Big 12, revenues were split unequally, depending on how many times you were on television and how well your teams did on the national stage, you got a bigger slice of the pie. From the Big Ten, it’s actually a little bit the reverse.

“I think the four or five teams that have the best attendance record in football actually contribute a pool of money to the teams that are less well off. It’s not a huge amount, but it’s kind of a reverse perspective to what the Big 12 has been doing for many years.”

That's what we've heard for a long time and, considering the motivations of all involved, it makes sense.

You can certainly defend equal and unequal revenue sharing, but one of the products of equal revenue sharing would certainly be a higher level of collegiality. If it's going to be good for the group, it's easy to see why a school like Baylor or Iowa State would be more apt to cede to Oklahoma or Texas when it comes to exposure, a factor that could influence each team's take from the conference pie.

To be fair, there's a much higher level of collegiality now in the Big 12 than there was when Osborne and the Huskers left, but I highly doubt it's on the level of the Big Ten.

Is that good or bad? Should Texas get the same amount of money from conference revenue as Iowa State?

It's just a different model, and Osborne (whose school long supported unequal revenue sharing in the Big 12, by the way) has taken notice.

The knives are slowly coming out, and the gnashing of teeth has only just begun.

College football looks headed straight for a four-team playoff beginning in the 2014 season, but the when, where and how will be hotly debated in the months, and perhaps year, to come.

The Big East, Pac-12 and ACC are campaigning hard for conference championship trophies as required hardware for admittance into the playoff.

The Big 12 and the SEC want the four best teams. Period.

The Big Ten, well, it's not quite sure what it wants.

The truth of the matter? The Big 12 may have the least at stake of any league in this debate. No matter what happens, the Big 12 is looking at probably sending one team to the playoff in just about every season.

Once or twice in a long while, the league may do a good SEC impression and send two teams to the playoff in a top-four scenario, but most likely it would only be one.

A Big 12 champion not making the list of the nation's top four teams that also won a conference title? If the Big 12 doesn't reinstitute a conference championship game and allow room for an upset (whoops, Texas '01, Oklahoma '03 and Missouri '07, if you can call the last one a true upset), a Big 12 team that proved itself as the "one true champion" over a nine-game conference schedule will be shut out of a four-team playoff a few occasions short of never.

The Big 12 has made it clear that it wants the best four teams in a playoff and, ideally, would like them selected by a committee, not a human poll or computer ranking.

Is that what would most help the Big 12? It's most what the fans want to see, even if it means seeing another all-SEC national title game. At least then the teams would have proven their worth against teams outside the league to get there.

The Big 12 will be there every year, though. Is eliminating the possibility of two teams worth paring down the field of four teams to those less qualified?

In short, that would give the Big 12 a better chance to win a title in a playoff it would be participating in almost every year, anyway.

It's a difficult balance for sure, but not one with a lot of difference. At least in the proposal the Big 12 favors, it would have a chance to prove its worth as an elite conference. The SEC could land two teams in a playoff fairly often if the top four teams are drafted. The Pac-12 might do it once in a while if USC and Oregon continue to prove their worth as powers.

The Big 12, though, would have the best chance to do it outside the SEC. Texas and Oklahoma would likely compete for annual spots, and Oklahoma State, West Virginia, TCU, Texas Tech or even Kansas State could crash the party in some years. Oklahoma State would have done it last year. TCU would have done it in 2010. Missouri would have done it in 2007.

The one place the Big 12 has a lot to gain, even if it has little to lose? No BCS games are played in the Big 12 footprint as it stands. If the national title game is bid out like the Big 12 wants, we could see big-time football in the Big 12 footprint.

Jerry Jones holds the keys to Cowboys Stadium, and he'll dangle them (along with a truckload of cash), if the opportunity to host college football's Super Bowl arises.

Say goodbye to trying to beat USC at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena or trying to knock off Florida at the Orange Bowl just outside Miami.

Let's see somebody else try to beat Texas or Oklahoma in Arlington, just three hours from their respective campuses.

Team selection isn't where the Big 12 has the most to lose or the most to gain. If the national title game stays in one of its current stadiums, life goes on as usual for the Big 12. If it moves to the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex, that's a big leg up for the Big 12 and one well worth fighting for.

A conference champions-only scenario would cost the SEC. The Pac-12, ACC and Big East would be in trouble with no conference champions requirement.

Either way, though, the Big 12 will be just fine.

We've wrapped up this week's countdown of the greatest individual seasons of all-time, but I asked you all to weigh in on the best ever in Big 12 history, as well as your favorite moments from those seasons. Here's what you had to say:

Dennis McElroy in Lamoni, Iowa, wrote: How quickly you forget Troy Davis. First back to have back to back 2000 yard seasons while playing on horrible Iowa State teams. If he had the benefit of the talent of an Oklahoma, there is no telling what he might have accomplished.

Ray Cobra in Los Angeles wrote: 1997, Michael Bishop led K-State to an 11-1 record and a Fiesta Bowl blow-out win while outplaying a guy named Donovan McNabb before a national audience. Bishop became a star that season and set K-State up as a national title contender for the next. How is that not one of the best Big 12 seasons by a player or at least on the just-missed list? Hard to argue that 11-1 and a Fiesta Bowl win in your first year out of juco as the starting QB for a Bill Snyder offense is better than losing the Big 12 title game and then failing to show-up for the Alamo Bowl as in Bishop's 98, which did make your 'just missed' list (and was indeed a fine season). Despite KSU's one loss to the eventual national champion in Lincoln and despite the fact that he was a basically a rookie, Bishop had a dream season in 97. Don't you agree?

Chris in Lindsberg, Kan., wrote: Big 12 Best Individual Seasons- Terence Newman, CB, Kansas State, 2002. In 2002, Terence Newman was a consensus First Team All-American, won the Jim Thorpe award, and was a finalist for the Bronko Nagurski award.It is easy to forget just how dominant Newman was during his senior season. Newman was constantly locked up with top receivers (Keary Colbert, Mike Williams, Shaun McDonald, Roy Williams), but he only surrendered one receiving touchdown all year (Rashaun Woods, Oklahoma State). In addition to eviscerating the other team's best receiver every week, Newman also contributed offensively and in the return game. He scored in four different ways (reception, punt return, kickoff return, defensive PAT), gave the Wildcats punt return touchdowns of 71 and 40 yards and a kickoff return touchdown of 95 yards. Newman's most memorable play of the season occurred during a 27-20 home win against #11 USC in September. With less than a minute before halftime and K-State holding a 10-0 lead, the Trojans recovered a fumble for a momentum-shifting touchdown. But the extra point attempt was blocked. Newman picked up the ball and raced 90 yards for a defensive two-point conversion.

Matt in Kansas City wrote: What about K-State Linebackers....Josh Buhl (undersized LB) had 184 tackles in 2003 which #2 all-time in college football....Mark Simoneau - 1999 consensus 1st team All American and Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year...if you look at best defensive careers he has to be up there....400 career tackles and 251 unassisted stops...also Big 12 1st-team 3 times

Kyle in Houston wrote: Best Individual Season: Dat Nguyen - 1998 -> Unanimous All-American -> Chuck Bednarik Award -> Lombardi Award -> Jack Lambert Award -> Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year -> First-Team All-Big 12

OU woofer in Houston wrote: Quentin Griffin - as a senior totaled 287 carries for 1,884 yards with 15 scores,and also caught 35 passes for 264 yards with 3 Tds, (single game for the season was 248 yrds/32 carries/1 td vs UT). The three-year starter helped OUwin a national championship in 2000 and he finished fourth in school history in career rushing yards (3,756), third in touchdowns (44) and finished second in all-purpose yards (4,973). He is 4 on OU's all time rushing leaders behind, Billy Sims, Joe Washinton, Adrian Peterson and Steve Owens. ...

Kenton in OKC wrote: Justin Blackmon's 2010 campaign deserves to be among the top 5 Big 12 seasons of all-time. He is the ONLY RECEIVER IN FBS HISTORY TO DO WHAT HE DID! 100 yds and a TD in every game played, come on. He torched OU's secondary on a bum ankle. I'm just appalled you left him out of the top 5. ONLY PLAYER IN HISTORY!

John Galt in New York wrote: Got to say Dubs. A little shocked not to see RGIII not make the list. I wouldn't consider him number 1 but I would say its hard to deny him the 3-5 spot. It appears you went pretty team-centric in your choosing. 2 Texas, 2 OK, and a corn husker. All teams with loads of talent and not just at the dynamic positions. Looking at the title "Best Individual Big 12 Seasons Ever", emphasis should be on the individual and to say that RGIII wasn't in the top five is a little disappointing. Not too many people would be surprised to hear Texas, Oklahoma, or Nebraska have a Heisman talent player or that player be on a National Championship team...but Baylor? Not sure any other offensive player on your list could win 10 games with the same Baylor team.

Kevin in Ardmore, Okla., wrote: Went to OSU and was wondering why you skipped over Brandon Weedon this last year. Lets see his stats. 2011 OKST 408 Comp 564 Att 72.3 Ptc 4727 Yds 8.4 Avg 37 TD 67 Lng 13 Int 159.8 Rat. Who he beat, Nick Foles, Ryan Tannehill, David Ash, Collin Klein, RGIII, Landry Jones and Andrew Luck. How many of those are now or will be NFL QBs. Know tell me how he isn't good enough not only to make the list, but not to make Just missed.

Jeff in Manhattan, Kan., wrote: Jordy Nelson, Kansas State, 2007. While not Justin Blackmon or Michael Crabtree, he still deserves a "near miss" mention as he was a consensus All-American with 122 catches for 1606 yds and 11 TDs, also threw for 2 touchdowns and returned 2 more punts to round out the stat sheet. Also, this. Thanks, Ubbs.

Jay Adams in Ames, Iowa, wrote: How can you leave out Seneca Wallace? Not only did he have the most prolific career for an Iowa State quarterback, but he led Iowa State to an unprecedented, and since unmatched, 11th rank in the nation.

I'll be out the rest of this week, so let's get our Mailbag going right now.

You can still share your favorite moments from the greatest seasons in Big 12 history here, though. I'll run those later this week.

On to your mail!

Zack O. in Bryan, Texas, wrote: Ubbs, I'm not ready to leave you yet so I continue to read the Big 12 blog while also staying up to date in the SEC. I liked your top individual seasons and you most definitely had some tough decisions. I noticed my Aggies didn't make the cut. After a quick moment of pouting I realized that they haven't been that outstanding individually; however, I would put Von Miller in 2010 right up there with anyone.

David Ubben: Thanks for the kind words, Zack. I'd disagree with you on Von Miller. For one, 2010 wasn't even his best season. I'd lean toward 2009. Even though A&M's defense was awful that year, Miller was a terror, and led the nation in sacks. Miller was a terror down the stretch in 2010, but he was much more productive in 2009 and he was slowed by an injury early in 2010. Could you really put a pass-rushing specialist who ranked 11th nationally in sacks in a pass-happy league among the best seasons in league history?

I was pretty surprised that the Aggies didn't have a player on my just missed list, but Dat Nguyen was probably the closest to making it.

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Lee Barden in Katy, Texas, wrote: What are the milestone dates to watch for this summer (in the coming months)? e.g. BCS discussions of playoffs, ACC drop-dead date for notice (before buy-out price tag increases to 25mm)? I'm figuring any movement will happen after playoffs are determined and before the price increase...

DU: First off, there's no ACC drop-dead date to my knowledge. The Big 12 waited to bring in West Virginia and TCU until the fall, and they're joining the following summer. Also, the ACC voted unanimously to up its buyout to $20 million last year, but I haven't heard anything about it getting hiked to $25 million.

You're right about the second part, though. I highly, highly doubt any movement will happen until after this playoff stuff is settled, and the format can be pitched to TV networks. There's a lot of hope that the BCS meetings around June 20 will produce some very serious results. I'd keep an eye on the month or so that follows if you're watching for Big 12 expansion.

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Brett in Kansas City wrote: Ubbs, what are you thinking, I can see why Collin Klein got left off the list of top 5 individule preformances but how did he miss out on the just missed out list?

DU: Here's my thing about Collin Klein's 2011 season (Hang on while I put on a helmet and get a running head start from the torch-bearing purple hordes): It's a little silly to just look at his 27 touchdowns and say, "WOW! One of the best seasons ever!" He put up similar numbers to Eric Crouch during Crouch's Heisman season in 2001, but Crouch ran for 26 fewer yards on 114 fewer carries. Klein's touchdown numbers were eye-popping, but anyone who watched K-State saw that any time the Wildcats were close to sniffing the end zone, it was all Klein all the time. That's not a bad thing. It paid off. These weren't long, game-breaking runs though. Most often, they were sneaks and short runs that most players could make.

Klein had a great year and K-State played a great schedule. His durability was amazing, but I'd probably put his season just outside the "just missed list." After all, I had Klein at No. 7 in the Big 12 this year, and didn't hear all that many complaints.

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Derek in Phoenix wrote: Not even a mention for Dominique Whaley to go plus 1k in 2012? You're gonna be wrong on that call, Ubben.

DU: That's probably my mistake, at least for not putting him on the "just missed" list. Whaley should be productive, but I see OU's backfield being too crowded and the offense again relying on Landry Jones for most of its production. Roy Finch was really good down the stretch and Brennan Clay could catch on. It seems like more of a committee approach, and coming off a serious injury, will Whaley quickly reclaim his spot in fall camp?

There's definitely reason to doubt it. I'd be surprised if he hit 1,000 yards this year, but he may get close and top around 800 yards.

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Marcel in Austin, Texas, wrote: We all know that in 2012 there's about a good 4 teams that could win the Big 12. But who do you think, that not a lot of people are looking at right now has the best chance of being the dark horse and could possibly be in the title race. I'm thinking Baylor or Tech, thoughts?

DU: I'd say it's four, teetering on five. TCU is lending a whole lot of credence to folks who doubt it and its depth lately. That said, Oklahoma and Kansas State are absolutely contenders. Texas and Oklahoma State are knocking on the door behind them, too.

As a true dark horse, I like Baylor. They've got lots of unheard of guys, but guys who quietly have a lot of experience and won't be wowed by anything they see this year. Tech isn't a bad pick, and Baylor's defense is slightly less of a disaster entering this season. At least Baylor isn't learning a new system.

Beyond the true dark horses (OSU, Texas), I like Baylor's chances. The Bears learned how to win last year. We'll see if they keep it going this year.